The Honda Civic, at least in the US, will soon feature a turbocharged engine as standard on the base model.

Honda’s head of research and development, Yoshiharu Yamamoto, told Automotive News that “downsized turbocharging will be the base, even for the Civic”. Yamamoto’s comments are believed to relate specifically to the American market.

Yamamoto did not indicate when the Civic will begin its adoption of forced induction. The news service understands that the next major update for the American-produced Civic may surface as early as this year, and will be sold with a 1.5-litre turbo as standard, while a naturally aspirated engine will offered as an option.

Additionally, anonymous industry sources have informed Automotive News that Honda North America is scheduled to begin production of the company’s new turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine from the fourth quarter of 2015, with output envisioned at roughly 200,000 units per year.

It’s not known when Australia-bound Civic models will begin to use turbocharged engines for its non-performance models. Civic sedans in local showrooms are built in Thailand, while the hatchback models are sourced from the UK.

Car Advice drove prototypes of Honda’s new turbocharged engines back in 2013. At Honda’s R&D centre in Tochigi, we sampled in-development versions of the company’s 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo and 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo.